Language Placement Assessments

The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas does not offer a BA in Spanish, Chinese, French or German, but it does offer a Minor in Spanish.

Spanish courses are available at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels, as well as courses in Spanish culture and Latin American literature, culture and history. Our aim is to prepare students with a high degree of language competence.

Chinese programs at UT Dallas offer a wide range of Chinese (Mandarin) courses, from first year beginner classes to the third year advanced level. In addition, the Elementary Business Chinese I and II are also available to students. Besides the language sequences, students will enjoy a series of cultural activities throughout each semester. We believe that by integrating a wide range of cultural and professional contexts into the language study, the Chinese courses will prepare students for future cross-cultural communication.

French and German courses are available at beginning and intermediate levels.

A great degree of emphasis in our language classes is placed on listening and speaking as well as reading and writing skills. The scope of language course sequences serves all students and programs of the university and fulfills students' needs by targeting cross-cultural communication, global awareness, international understanding and cultural pluralism. The Chinese, French, German, and Spanish sequence of courses will ensure that students will learn successfully language and culture, effectively and enjoyably, while it becomes a personal, professional, humanistic and rewarding experience.

Spanish Language Placement Test

All students who are taking Spanish for the first time at UT Dallas must take an online placement test before enrolling**. Students who have not taken this test may be asked to take it before being allowed to continue in the course.

To complete the Spanish Language Placement Test, please follow the instructions:

1. Register yourself in eLearning for the Spanish Language Placement Test.
   
   
2. Take the test. When you begin the test, you may not stop and go back. If you don’t know how to answer a question, click “next”. Make sure you save your answers before exiting.
   
   
3. Save and/or print your results (score) for your own records.
   
   
4. Your score will be loaded to Orion within 24 hours of taking the test. At that point, you will be able to register yourself in Orion (in Galaxy) for the course approved by your test score as shown bellow. If you have any problems registering, please see or contact your academic advisor.
   
   

**You don’t need to take the placement test if prior courses and/or credit by test scores satisfy SPAN course prerequisites (this includes credit through courses at UT Dallas, transfer credit, and AP or CLEP credit). AP3 students may enroll in SPAN 1312, AP4 students may enroll in SPAN 2311, and AP5 students may enroll in SPAN 2312 or in SPAN 2341. CLEP level 1 students may enroll in SPAN 2311, and CLEP level 2 students may enroll in SPAN 3365.

Chinese Language Placement Test

All students who are taking Chinese for the first time at UT Dallas must take an online placement test before enrolling*.

To complete the Chinese Language Placement Test, please follow the instructions:

1. Register yourself in eLearning for the Chinese Language Placement Test.
   
   
2. Take the test. When you begin the test, you may not stop and go back. If you don’t know how to answer a question, click “next”. Make sure you save your answers before exiting.
   
   
3. Save and/or print your results (score) for your own records.
   
   
4. Your score will be loaded to Orion within 24 hours of taking the test. At that point, you will be able to register yourself in Orion (in Galaxy) for the course approved by your test score as shown bellow. If you have any problems registering, please see or contact your academic advisor.
   
   

*You don't need to take the placement test if prior courses and/or credit by test scores satisfy Chinese course prerequisites (this includes credit through courses at UT Dallas, transfer credit, and HSK or AP credit).

If you pass HSK1/AP3, you can be enrolled in 1311
If you pass HSK2/AP4, you can be enrolled in 2311
If you pass HSK3/AP5, you can be enrolled in 2312
If you pass HSK4, you can be enrolled in 3000 levels

French and German Placement Exams

All students who are taking French or German for the first time at UT Dallas must take an online placement exam before enrolling.***

To complete the French or German placement exam:

1. Go to the testing website.

2. Complete the online registration form.
   Organization = "The University of Texas at Dallas"
   Language = French or German
   Email = your UTD email address

3. Pay for the exam. The cost of the exam is $10.00 for one test attempt. You may pay by using a debit or credit card.

4. You will receive an email confirmation of your purchase with the link and exam ID (password). You do not have to take the exam immediately after registering, but you must take the exam before you can enroll.

5. Take the exam. When you begin the exam, you may not stop and go back. Make sure you have uninterrupted access to the Internet for a period of about an hour.

6. Make a screen shot of your results (score and course placement) as evidence (or print a hard copy and digitally scan).

7. Email the language instructor the digital version of your results.

• Maha Fettouh, Instructor of French, at [email protected]
• Elena Webb, Instructor of German, at [email protected] or Barbara Berthold, Instructor of German, at [email protected]

8. The instructor will give you a permission code to enroll in the course.  Students must enroll in the highest level course available as determined by their placement score. Instructors reserve the right to require additional assignments based on a higher level of language proficiency for students who enroll in a class that doesn't correspond to their language placement exam score.

***Students do need not take the exam if prior courses and/or credit by exam scores satisfy FREN or GERM course prerequisites (this includes credit through courses at UT Dallas, transfer credit, and AP or CLEP credit).

If you have any questions, please contact:

Dr. Lorena Camacho-Guardado, Director of the Spanish Language Program, at [email protected]

Maha Fettouh, Instructor of French, at [email protected]

Elena Webb, Instructor of German, at [email protected] or Barbara Berthold, Instructor of German, at [email protected]